Turns out that the commercialism surrounding so called 'modern trans-national postural yoga' may be making projects like this one viable, such that the few remaining copies of certain, possibly important, hatha texts, threatened by decay, are being rediscovered, examined, studied and preserved, in one form or another (four projected monographs in this project).

And look, they may have come up with a headline grabbing scan of the fabled Yoga korunta that Ashtanga's Pattabhi Jois claimed to be the source of his teacher Krishnamacharya's original Ashtanga vinyasa.

I do wonder at this though, if it does turn out to be the very same Yoga Korunta will everybody change their current practice to bring it in line with the text or will elements that don't fit in with the current presentation be ignored or dismissed along with Krishnamacharya's own works which may have been based upon the text.

Part of the asana table from krishnamacharya's Yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941).
Translation project HERE
UPDATE: The translation of yogasanagalu is now complete and available from my Free Download page

Would I give up my exploration of kumbhaka (breath retention) in asana as outlined in Krishnamacharya's works if the Korunta argued against it, probably not. I continue to practice Ashtanga vinyasa not because I think it has any historical validity or authenticity of any kind but merely because I've become accustomed to it, it seems to work for me personally ( in the sense of giving me discipline, focus and attention for a couple of hours, which is a start) as well as anything else.

The korunta is perhaps only really interesting to Ashtanga practitioners if it justifies and authorises current practice, if it doesn't it will most likely soon be forgotten and lost once more in favour of the concepts of tradition and lineage themselves rather than what perhaps is/was intended to be transmitted, passed along via said lineage and tradition.

And Yoga Korunta is of course just one of many texts, why should the Korunta have any more authority or be of more interest than any of the others, than the Yogatārāvalī say, the text included in the project that I'm most curious about personally, the first text the team have found where raja and hatha yoga are supposedly brought together. Why was this felt necessary, Raja had got along nicely for a thousand years perhaps without hatha...... or had it.

Thank you to the HYP team for all their work thus far as well as to come, I'm looking forward to it.

*

Part II : Is Yoga even necessary here in the lakeland?

Pranayama I

I've been wondering about this recently, here in rural Japan, between the mountains and Lake Biwa.

I look out my window and see the elderly still fit and sprightly digging their allotments and growing all kinds of vegetables, almost self sufficient here it seems.

The air is as pure as it gets perhaps, people here are leading active lives in a place of such peace and beauty...... as soon as I arrive back from the city I feel any stress accumulated drop quietly away as I walk home along the beach.

Life is simple here, nobody seems to need two hours of practice each morning to be reminded of that.

There doesn't seem the need of a physical practice, am I continuing with mine out of habit? Whatever version of the yama and niyamas they have here seems to be working well enough, people are living long peaceful lives, my time might be better spent finding ways to support them in this, at some point age is a burden that can be eased somewhat.

The local Shrines and temples are seemingly well enough attended, I would happily be reborn here again and again if I believed in Karma.

I still have the philosophical curiosity of course, for me spirituality, the spiritual path if I'm on one, is an enquiry into consciousness, awareness, what is it to be aware and what if it were possible to drop away all content of awareness would Patanjali and his predecessors be right, would all that is left be awareness of awareness? As with my years of Academic philosophy and the continued intellectual investigation that followed before this more.... experiential path, it seems a luxury, a hobby almost rather than an existential necessity.

Pranayama II

Update: 2017

Do I still wonder if the lake may be sufficient, if..... 'yoga' is even necessary?

Living here, spending time beside the lake has convinced me that samadhi is an actuality not merely a word on a page, that it is achievable, workable...., a beginning

A Reminder

from Kalama sutra, translation from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi This blog included.

"So, as I said, Kalamas: 'Don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, "This contemplative is our teacher." When you know for yourselves that, "These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering" — then you should abandon them.' Thus was it said. And in reference to this was it said.

"Now, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness' — then you should enter & remain in them. Buddha - Kalama Sutta